Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code – Standard 1.2.10 – Information requirements – characterising ingredients and components of food

The two central concepts are "characterising ingredient" and "characterising component," defined in section 1.1.2--4 and reproduced in the note to section 1.2.10--2.

A characterising ingredient is an ingredient or category of ingredients that (a) is mentioned in the name of the food, (b) is usually associated with the name of the food by a consumer, or (c) is emphasised on the label in words, pictures or graphics. The definition is therefore triggered not only by explicit naming but by consumer expectation and by a producer's own marketing choices. A producer who emphasises an ingredient visually, even if not named in the product title, brings that ingredient within the declaration obligation.

A characterising component differs from a characterising ingredient in that it refers to a component of the food rather than an ingredient. The same three triggers apply. The distinction matters because a component may be present in the finished product as a result of processing rather than as a discrete input; fat, for instance, may be characterising even where no fat ingredient was separately listed.

Section 1.1.2--4(2) carves out three classes of thing that are not characterising ingredients despite meeting the threshold in subsection (1): (a) an ingredient used in small amounts solely to flavour the food; (b) an ingredient comprising the whole of the food; and (c) an ingredient mentioned in the name but not governing consumer choice, because variation in its amount is not essential to characterise the food or does not distinguish it from similar foods. These exclusions acknowledge that requiring percentage disclosure for a flavouring used in trace quantities, or for a single-ingredient product, would be technically burdensome without adding information value.

Section 1.1.2--4(3) adds an important anti-gaming rule: compliance with labelling requirements elsewhere in the Code does not of itself constitute "emphasis" for the purposes of the definition. A producer cannot argue that listing an ingredient in the statutory ingredients panel is equivalent to emphasising it so as to bring it within the characterising ingredient definition.

The concept of "ingoing weight" is central to the calculation method under section 1.2.10--4. The proportion PCI is the ingoing weight of the characterising ingredient (IW) divided by the total weight of all ingoing ingredients (TW). This is a pre-manufacture ratio, not a measure of what is present in the finished product after cooking or drying. However, sections 1.2.10--5 and 1.2.10--4(3) create measured adjustments: where moisture is lost during processing, the proportion may be recalculated on the basis of weight in the food; where a concentrated or dehydrated ingredient is reconstituted during manufacture, the reconstituted weight may be used; and where the finished food requires reconstitution before consumption, PCI may be expressed as a proportion of the reconstituted food.

The Standard binds any person who sells food with a label in Australia or New Zealand, subject to the exemptions in section 1.2.10--3(3). In practice the primary obligation-holders are food manufacturers, processors and importers whose products are sold packaged and labelled at retail.

Certain categories of food and sale are exempt from the declaration requirement under section 1.2.10--3(3): prepared filled rolls, sandwiches, bagels or similar products; food sold at a fund-raising event; food in a small package; infant formula products; cured and/or dried meat flesh in whole cuts or pieces; standardised alcoholic beverages; and beverages containing no less than 0.5% alcohol by volume (other than standardised alcoholic beverages). The alcohol exemptions cover the bulk of the packaged beverage alcohol market: wine, beer and spirits sold in their standard forms are entirely outside the Standard's reach. The "small package" exemption relieves suppliers of single-serve and sample-size products. Fund-raising event sales are exempt, reflecting the informal and low-volume character of those transactions.

Food service operators, caterers, and businesses selling unpackaged food are not directly regulated by this Standard, as the labelling provisions to which section 1.2.10--3(1) refers apply to food for sale with a label. Retailers who do not manufacture or package do not bear the calculation burden, though they may be indirectly affected if they source product from manufacturers who must relabel for their private-label lines.

Importers are effectively bound because their product must comply with the Code on entry to market. A foreign manufacturer whose formulation does not readily map to the ingoing-weight calculation method in section 1.2.10--4 bears the burden of either computing the required percentage from manufacturing records or adjusting labelling to comply.

The primary duty under section 1.2.10--3(1) is to declare the proportion of each characterising ingredient and each characterising component. That declaration must be calculated in accordance with sections 1.2.10--4 to 1.2.10--7 and expressed in accordance with section 1.2.10--8.

The calculation duty under section 1.2.10--4 requires use of the ingoing-weight formula (PCI = IW / TW) with specific rules for added water and volatile ingredients: per section 1.2.10--4(2), the weight of added water or volatile ingredients removed during manufacture must not be included in TW. This prevents a producer from diluting the apparent proportion of a characterising ingredient by counting evaporated water as part of total ingoing weight.

Section 1.2.10--5 provides a permissive adjustment for moisture loss during processing: where moisture is lost, the proportion may be calculated on the basis of weight of the characterising ingredient in the food. This is a right rather than a duty; a producer may choose to use the ingoing-weight formula without the adjustment, which will generally produce a lower declared percentage.

Section 1.2.10--6 governs declaration in a nutrition information panel: where a characterising ingredient is declared in a nutrition information panel rather than in the ingredients list, the amount declared must be the average quantity present in the food.

Under section 1.2.10--7, the proportion of a characterising component (PCC) is calculated differently: PCC = W / TW where TW is total weight of the food (not total ingoing weight) and W is weight of the component in the food. This is a finished-product measure, not an ingoing measure, which is appropriate for components that emerge from processing.

The expression rules in section 1.2.10--8 impose four specific duties. First, the proportion must be expressed as a percentage (or as average quantity per serving/per unit in a nutrition information panel). Second, where declared in a statement of ingredients, the percentage must immediately follow the common, descriptive or generic name of the ingredient (section 1.2.10--8(2)). Third, rounding is permitted to the nearest whole number, or, where below 5%, to the nearest 0.5 decimal place (section 1.2.10--8(3)). Fourth, the declared percentage must be either the actual percentage, a minimum percentage (where minimum ingoing weight was used in the calculation), or the average quantity in a nutrition information panel (section 1.2.10--8(4)). Where a minimum percentage is declared, section 1.2.10--8(5) requires that fact to be clearly indicated.

Section 1.2.10--3(2) provides a relief from double-declaration: where the proportion of a characterising component is declared, the proportion of a characterising ingredient containing that component need not also be declared. This avoids redundant disclosures where, for example, fat as a component is declared and fat as an ingredient is the same quantity.

The Standard itself specifies no penalties. It is an instrument made under the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991 (Cth) and operates as a standard within the Code. Enforcement is not a function of the Standard; it is a function of the state, territory and New Zealand food legislation that adopts or incorporates the Code by reference.

In Australia, each state and territory has its own food legislation (typically modelled on the national Food Act template) that makes non-compliance with the Code an offence. Penalties vary by jurisdiction but non-compliance with labelling requirements is generally a strict-liability offence, with penalty units set by the relevant state or territory statute. Enforcement agencies include state and territory food safety authorities and, in some contexts, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission where mislabelling constitutes misleading conduct under the Australian Consumer Law.

In New Zealand, the Food Act 2014 (NZ) provides the enforcement framework. Non-compliance with a food safety requirement, which includes Code standards, can attract infringement fees, improvement notices and, for more serious contraventions, prosecution.

The Standard itself does not empower any particular agency to act, set any penalty unit value, or provide for infringement notices. Compliance is verified through routine market surveillance, targeted audits and complaint-driven investigation by the relevant food authority.

Standard 1.2.10 operates within a framework of other Code standards and instruments. Section 1.2.10--3(1) is explicitly tethered to the "labelling provisions" set out in Standard 1.2.1, which establishes when a label is required and the general content obligations. Standard 1.2.10 is a subsidiary layer: it specifies the content of a particular type of information that Standard 1.2.1 requires to appear.

The definitions in section 1.2.10--2 are drawn from section 1.1.2--4, which is the general definitions provision of the Code. Standard 1.2.10 does not define "characterising ingredient" and "characterising component" independently; it imports them from that provision. Changes to those definitions would therefore affect Standard 1.2.10 without any amendment to this Standard.

The nutrition information panel regime (governed by Standard 1.2.8) intersects with Standard 1.2.10 at two points: section 1.2.10--6 (which governs declaration in the nutrition information panel) and section 1.2.10--8(1)(b) and (4)(c) (which permit declaration as average quantity per serving/per unit in a nutrition information panel). A producer who declares a characterising ingredient in the nutrition information panel is not exempt from the percentage declaration requirement but may satisfy it through that panel if the relevant conditions are met.

Standard 1.2.10 does not apply to infant formula products (section 1.2.10--3(3)(d)), which are subject to their own standard, Standard 2.9.1. The exemption prevents double-regulation of a category subject to a comprehensive specific regime.

The interaction with the Australian Consumer Law is structural rather than textual. Non-compliance with the percentage declaration requirement may, depending on the facts, constitute misleading conduct under sections 18 or 29 of the Australian Consumer Law if a consumer is misled about the quantity of a characterising ingredient. The ACCC has historically pursued labelling cases under both food law and consumer law where the same conduct contravenes both regimes.

In New Zealand, the Food Act 2014 (NZ) imports the Code by reference (as noted in section 1.1.1--3 of the Code and in the Note to section 1.2.10--1). Standard 1.2.10 therefore has direct legal effect in New Zealand through that adoption mechanism.

The source records the following amendment history. Standard 1.2.10 was published in Food Standards Gazette No. FSC96 on 10 April 2015 as part of Amendment 154 (F2015L00398, registered 31 March 2015). It commenced on 1 March 2016. The compilation recorded in the source is Compilation No. 2, as in force on 29 November 2018, incorporating all amendments up to and including Amendment No. 182.

Two amendments are recorded. Amendment 157 (registered on the Federal Register of Legislation as F2015L01374, gazetted in FSC99 on 3 September 2015, commencing 1 March 2016) amended section 1.2.10--3(2) to correct a typographical error. Amendment 182 (registered as F2018L01594, gazetted in FSC123 on 29 November 2018, commencing 29 November 2018) amended section 1.2.10--3(3) to correct a typographical error.

Both recorded amendments are purely technical corrections with no substantive policy effect. The Standard has not, within the period covered by the source, undergone any substantive amendment to its calculation methodology, expression requirements, or list of exemptions. No further amendment history is recorded in the source beyond these two corrections.

The source names no cases. No litigation history can be drawn from the instrument itself, and it would be improper to attribute decided cases to this Standard without a source basis. Disputes about percentage declarations for characterising ingredients in Australia and New Zealand are generally resolved through regulatory enforcement action rather than reported civil litigation, but that observation is not grounded in the source document and is offered only as context. For case law directly construing this Standard, a practitioner should search the relevant state and territory food authority decisions and the Federal Court and Federal Circuit and Family Court databases.

Several aspects of the Standard create compliance traps that are easy to miss on a first reading.

The "emphasis" trigger in the characterising ingredient definition (section 1.1.2--4(1)(c)) is activated by pictures and graphics as well as words. A product image on a pack, even without a text claim, can bring an ingredient within the declaration obligation. A strawberry photograph on a yoghurt container is not merely decorative under the Code if consumers associate it with an expectation about strawberry content. Section 1.1.2--4(3) makes clear that ordinary compliance with labelling requirements elsewhere in the Code does not itself constitute emphasis, but imagery added for commercial appeal is a different matter.

The exclusion in section 1.1.2--4(2)(c) is narrower than it may appear. An ingredient mentioned in the name of the food is excluded only where its variation does not govern consumer choice and does not distinguish the food from similar foods. For most named ingredients, particularly protein sources like meat, seafood and cheese, variation in amount will govern consumer choice, so the exclusion is unlikely to apply.

The ingoing-weight formula in section 1.2.10--4 uses pre-manufacture weights. Where a product undergoes significant reduction during cooking (for example, a meat product that loses 30% of its weight through roasting), the declared percentage will be lower than the percentage of the ingredient in the finished product. This is not an error; it is the intended calculation. Producers who choose to use the moisture-loss adjustment under section 1.2.10--5 will produce a higher declared percentage, which may better reflect what the consumer is actually eating, but the choice between the two methods is permissive. The declared percentage and the choice of method must be consistent with the labelling.

Where a minimum ingoing weight is used in the calculation (permitted under section 1.2.10--4(1)(a) and section 1.2.10--8(4)(b)), the result is a minimum percentage, and section 1.2.10--8(5) requires that the fact it is a minimum be clearly indicated. Failure to make that indication is a separate breach from any error in the underlying calculation.

The reconstitution provisions (sections 1.2.10--4(4) and 1.2.10--7(2)) allow declaration as a proportion of the food as reconstituted rather than as supplied. Where this option is used, section 1.2.10--8(6) requires that the fact the percentage is a proportion of the reconstituted food be clearly indicated. A producer who uses the reconstituted basis without the required indication is non-compliant on expression even if the underlying calculation is correct.

The double-declaration relief in section 1.2.10--3(2) only operates one way: if the characterising component proportion is declared, the characterising ingredient proportion need not be. It does not operate in reverse. If only the characterising ingredient proportion is declared and a characterising component is separately in scope, the component still requires its own declaration.

The placement rule in section 1.2.10--8(2) is exact: in a statement of ingredients, the percentage must immediately follow the common, descriptive or generic name of the ingredient. A percentage placed at the end of the ingredients list, or in a footnote, does not satisfy this requirement.

Compliance requires a structured process covering identification, calculation, expression and exemption assessment.

Begin with identification. For each food product, review the product name, consumer expectations associated with that name, and all label content including images and graphics. Apply the three-limbed test in section 1.1.2--4(1) to every ingredient and category of ingredients, and separately to every component. Any ingredient or component that satisfies at least one limb is characterising unless it falls within the exclusions in section 1.1.2--4(2). Document the identification outcome for each product line.

For each characterising ingredient, apply the calculation in section 1.2.10--4: IW divided by TW, excluding added water and volatile ingredients removed during manufacture (section 1.2.10--4(2)). If a concentrated or dehydrated ingredient is reconstituted during manufacture, the reconstituted weight may be used (section 1.2.10--4(3)). If the product requires reconstitution before consumption, the producer may calculate on the basis of the reconstituted food (section 1.2.10--4(4)), but must then comply with the indication requirement in section 1.2.10--8(6). If moisture loss occurs during processing, the producer may use the section 1.2.10--5 adjustment.

For each characterising component, apply section 1.2.10--7: W divided by TW (where TW is total weight of the food, not total ingoing weight). This is a different denominator from the ingredient calculation.

Where a characterising ingredient proportion is declared in a nutrition information panel rather than in the ingredients list, use the average quantity method in section 1.2.10--6.

Express the result in accordance with section 1.2.10--8. In an ingredients list, place the percentage immediately after the common, descriptive or generic name of the ingredient (section 1.2.10--8(2)). Round to the nearest whole number or, where below 5%, to the nearest 0.5 decimal place (section 1.2.10--8(3)). Declare as the actual percentage, as a clearly indicated minimum percentage, or as average quantity in a nutrition information panel (section 1.2.10--8(4) and (5)).

Check whether any applicable exemption under section 1.2.10--3(3) removes the declaration requirement for the product category or sale type. If the product is an alcoholic beverage meeting the relevant threshold, a standardised alcoholic beverage, an infant formula, cured or dried whole meat, food in a small package, food sold at a fund-raising event, or a prepared filled roll or similar, no declaration is required.

Review label artwork for unintended "emphasis" triggers: any image, graphic or text claim that highlights an ingredient may bring that ingredient within the characterising ingredient definition and therefore within the declaration obligation. Conduct this review at the artwork approval stage before registration or print, not retrospectively.

Maintain manufacturing records that support the declared percentages. Regulatory audits will test the calculation against batch records, ingredient specifications and ingoing weights. Where a minimum percentage is used, document the basis for the minimum weight figure.